


Penny

by Jake_Matthews



Series: Fletcher [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-25 08:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4953565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jake_Matthews/pseuds/Jake_Matthews
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the sequel to 'Private Fletcher's View'. It is about Penny Fletcher, the granddaughter from Private Fletcher's View, when she is grown up. It starts not long after the battle of New York.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hacker

Stark Tower loomed ahead of her as she slipped behind a large chunk of rubble, ducking out of view of the police officers who were supervising the cleanup operation. So far she'd managed to evade them, and had made it most of the way up the street. There had been a few close calls, occasions where she had only just managed to get behind a car or chunk of building before the a police officer caught sight of her. She tugged nervously at her left sleeve, pulling it down over the back of her hand to hide the metal. She should have worn a glove. It wouldn't do to have the early morning sun glinting off it and alerting the police to her presence.

Carefully, she shifted her position, looking to the road ahead, planning her next move. There wasn't much activity this early in the morning, which made it slightly easier to go unnoticed, and she absolutely could not be seen. She had to make it at least as far as the end of the street, just over the road from Stark Tower, if she wanted to hack into the systems. This was by far the most dangerous hack she'd ever set herself, but she needed to know, and this was her best chance. At the very least, she could rule it out as a route into the SHIELD database.

With one last peek around the rubble to ascertain the position of the police, she broke cover and darted agilely between the debris, ducking behind the next object large enough to hide her and beginning to plan her next leg. Her journey continued in this fashion until she eventually reached the end of the road. Then she stopped, hidden in the shadows, and gazed up at the tower. It was certainly impressive, even with most of the letters missing, and scaffolding up around the top. The sun was shining on the tower, reflecting of the scaffolding, and illuminating... oh dear. Above the letter 'A', all that remained of the original lettering, she could see a man. Tony Stark was stood at the edge of his tower, looking out over the world. What the hell was he doing up at this time? This complicated things. For starters, now she was there, she realised she needed to get closer in order to hack, which meant she needed to cross the road, right under Stark's nose. And if she could see him, then he would see her moving. Plus, him being up meant a higher chance of getting caught mid-hack, and if she got caught... She couldn't fight Iron Man, and although she thought she might have a way to slow him down, there was no way to know for sure if it would work, or for how long, or if she could even pull it off without knocking herself out too.

She took a deep breath. She couldn't back down now, she might never get another chance at this, and she had to know. She looked around carefully, checking the positions of all the police officers, assessing the fastest and safest route across the road, and locating the best-hidden position at the foot of the tower. Having chosen the most efficient route, she returned her gaze to the man standing high above her. She waited, tensed up and ready to run for it. Seconds ticked by, then minutes. She threw an occasional glance towards the police officers, making sure they hadn't moved, but they weren't her biggest obstacle anymore. After nearly ten minutes, Stark moved away from the edge, heading back inside. She ran. She had to get there fast, he might come back at any time.

Panting, she dropped into her chosen hiding place. There was no way he would see her now unless he stuck his head right out and looked straight down. She had her back against the wall of the tower, there was an overturned car blocking her right side and front, and on her left was one of the flying chariots the aliens had been using. She was blocked from view on all sides. She was so close now, her right hand was shaking. Trying to calm her breathing, she reached into the bag slung over her shoulder and pulled out her tablet. This was it. She opened the program she'd spent the last two years developing, and released a shaky breath as it loaded.

"Alright, J-CUB, let's see what we got..." she murmured, fingers skating across the surface of the tablet as she began the hack.

\- - - -

"Sir, you really need to get some sleep."

"No, JARVIS, what I need is to get back to work." Tony placed his empty coffee mug down on the counter as he walked back into the building. He sat down on a stool by the counter and resumed the tinkering he'd been occupying himself with all night.

"Sir, you've been-"

"JARVIS, shut up will you? I need to focus on this. Don't interrupt me again unless its important." His words were final, and for a few minutes, the AI was silent. Then-

"Sir, I am detecting an attempt to hack into our systems."

"What? How? Who's hacking us?" Tony put down his tinkering and pulled up a screen, just as curious as he was annoyed by the hack. He began tapping and dragging things, trying to counter-hack and locate the hacker, as well as trying to prevent the hacker taking control of his systems. "JARVIS what do we know about this hacker? Any clue as to the software they're using, what it's trying to do, and most importantly how the hell anyone managed to get this far?"

"The hacking software is unfamiliar, but it appears to be trying to locate files and hacking software."

"They're looking for hacking software? Why...? Ugh, well what files are they looking for? Are they trying to get weapons, schematics for the building, Iron Man designs, what?"

"Any files pertaining to SHIELD operations or bases, Sir."

"SHIELD? Is the hacker from SHIELD, trying to reclaim what I stole from them on the helicarrier? Or is it someone who wants to attack SHIELD? Why would they start here? Why is someone looking for SHIELD files here?" Tony shook his head, trying to make sense of the situation. JARVIS was probably right about him needing to sleep.

"Okay, let's think about this. Is the hacker doing this wirelessly, or have they plugged into one of our systems? Where are they getting in from?"

"The hack appears to be coming through the WiFi."

"Really? Huh. Well that means they must be close. There's no sign of a security breach, so they're probably outside. We could get Happy to go out and find them..."

"Shall I wake him, Sir?"

"No. He'll get the police involved. I want to speak to this hacker. How about we send them a message? Invite them in, bring them up here, find out what we're dealing with. If it doesn't work, then we can wake Happy."

"Surely this plan could give the hacker an opportunity to run away?"

"They're countering our attempts to hack them, so they know we've caught them. They haven't run yet, so they must be desperate."

"How exactly do you intend to send them this message?"

"Create a file containing the message, label it SHIELD, then let their program catch it. Just say... 'Come to the main door, we'll let you in. Then go to the elevator, we'll bring you up, and we'll have a chat. We may refrain from calling the police if you comply, but if you run, we will alert them and you will not make it very far. We could be able to help you.' I think that should do the trick."

"The file has been made."

A few minutes went by, with Tony continuing to counter the hacker, and keep them away from files other than the one containing the message.

"Sir, there is a young woman approaching the door to the building."

"Give me a visual."

An image of the woman appeared on the screen in front of Tony. She was around seventeen, had short, wavy blond hair and glasses. She was wearing a brown hooded jacket over a black Star Wars t-shirt, jeans and trainers. In her left hand she was holding a tablet, the screen of which was hidden from view. Just visible on the back of her hand were lines of metal which appeared to be attached to her hand.

"What's that on her hand?" Tony questioned, perplexed by it. "JARVIS, scan her as soon as she gets into the elevator. I wanna know what that thing is, and if she has any weapons on her. Also, try and see if you can get an identity using facial recognition."

"Perhaps you should put your suit on for this, Sir."

"No, but have it ready, in case she is dangerous."

"Of course, Sir."

They waited as she entered the building and made her way to the elevator. Jarvis threw the scan up as a projection in the middle of the room, showing that the woman had metal all the way up her left arm, connecting to her spine, running down that and then along her left leg, to a point just below her knee, where her leg ended in a stump and the strange metal lines gave way to a robotic prosthetic.

"JARVIS, can you tell what that is?"

"It appears to be attached to her central nervous system. I would guess it is an aid to overcome some form of paralysis. Like the hacking software, it is an unfamiliar piece of technology." Tony raised his eyebrows at this, swivelling to face the elevator. He was still having to fight off the hacker.

"Does she have any weapons?"

"Nothing that I recognise as a weapon, however there are some devices in the pocket of her jacket which I cannot identify. They could be weapons, but they could equally be harmless." As he finished saying this, the elevator arrived, opening to reveal the hacker.


	2. Jacob

Tony looked at the young woman standing in his elevator. Her face was set, confident, but the tremor in her right hand betrayed her nerves. She was terrified. She was still holding her tablet in her left hand, her knuckles white from the strength with which she gripped it. She looked around as she walked in, noting the scan of her body which was still displayed, the image of her outside, the attempts to find a match for her face. It was looking at American records. She smirked.

"You're looking on the wrong continent, mate." Tony raised an eyebrow.

"You're from England? JARVIS, take that into account. Unless of course, you're willing to tell me exactly who you are?" He got up and moved to stand in front of her as he spoke. He was careful not to come too close though. She looked at him, thoughtful.

"Well, I could tell you, but it'd be kinda fun to see how long it takes you to figure it out... But you said you might help me, and you need to know who am I if you're gonna help. I need to know what happened to my parents."

"Why do you need SHIELD files to find out what happened to your parents?"

"Because the only clue I have is the number of a SHIELD agent named Nick Fury... He gave it to my Grandpa when I was six years old, just after Grandpa moved to England to look after me. Just after my parents died... He knows what really happened to them, he had something to do with it all, so SHIELD is the answer. I'm sure of it. He was involved in what happened to me, he knows, and there must be SHIELD files about what happened. There has to be..." She was desperate.

"Your Grandpa moved to England for you when you were six? So he's from somewhere else, I'm guessing America if SHIELD were involved, and it must have been eleven years ago that he moved? You've got some pretty impressive tech skills... You're still hacking me. Right now, while I'm talking to you, you're hacking me. Do you know how rude that is? Why would I help you? JARVIS, any leads yet on who she is and how she got so far? How is she hacking me without actually doing anything on her tablet?" The hacker smirked, enjoying Tony's confusion. The shaking in her hand was receding. She was calmer, more relaxed. She was still scared, but much less so. She jumped slightly as a British accent came out of nowhere.

"Sir, I am doing my best to identify her, but keeping our systems secure is my priority right now. The software is very adaptive, like it's learning as it tries to hack. And there is something familiar about it..." Tony raised an eyebrow at that, then looked back at the hacker, having turned to the screens when addressing JARVIS.

"You're hacking me with an AI, aren't you? That's clever, but you see, I have an AI of my own in charge of the systems. You're not getting anything that way, so why don't you stop the hack, and then maybe I'll help you." She eyed him suspiciously, then her shoulders sagged as she gave in.

"J-CUB, stop the hack." Her instruction caused a male voice with an accent that was a mixture of American and British to respond.

"Hack stopped. Are you sure you can trust him?" It came from the tablet in her hand.

"Yes, J-CUB, I'm sure." Tony looked at her for a moment, recognition dawning on his face.

"J-CUB... Your AI is called J-CUB... And that voice... You're Jacob Fletcher's kid aren't you? Your AI is meant to sound like him... and it's based on the software I used to create JARVIS... That's how it got so far, my systems didn't spot it straight away because it's based on my tech... That's clever, very clever..." He looked at her appraisingly. "So you must've inherited Old Man Fletcher's tech skills... He must be happy, he's finally got a kid who can have a shot at beating me when he's arguing with Howard... Not that he can argue with Howard any more..." The hacker gaped. She was not expecting Tony to suss her out that quickly... Maybe her Dad's notes about Tony hadn't been exaggerating...

She shook herself slightly, then said, "So you know who I am now. Will you help me? For my Dad?" She gave him her best puppy-dog look, and hoped that the memory of his ex-best friend would be enough to inspire him to help her. But Tony appeared lost in thought. He was remembering the last time he'd seen Jacob, almost twelve years previously. It had been the anniversary of his parents death, and Jacob had gone with him to visit their graves. Then they'd headed back to Tony's house, and had been sat on his bed. For once, Jacob hadn't tried to use his father's stories of Captain America to cheer Tony up, and had just sat with him as he cried, letting him get it all out.

Tony remembered Jacob's arms around him, holding him and rocking him. He remembered the way Jacob had stroked his hair, running his fingers through it. He remembered Jacob leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on the top of his head. He had moved slightly, trying to look Jacob in the eye, and Jacob had responded by beginning to kiss his face, brushing his lips lightly across the tear-stained cheeks, slowly moving closer to Tony's mouth, then shying away again. Tony had moved his head suddenly, catching Jacob's lips when they closed in on his mouth, and had kissed him, feeling those soft lips against his own.

He remembered the way he'd begun to tear at Jacob's clothes, wanting - no, needing more, desperate for something to distract him from his misery. Jacob had responded, elated that Tony appeared to be reciprocating the feelings he'd been too scared to share for so long. Tony remembered how he'd got up as soon as Jacob had fallen asleep, how he'd pulled his clothes back on and stumbled through the house to drink himself into a stupor. He remembered the argument the next day, when Jacob realised that what happened had meant so much more to him than it had to Tony. He remembered Jacob leaving, and how he'd hated himself for weeks afterward, and then getting the news that Jacob was missing...

Missing. But the hacker said...

"JARVIS, get up any records pertaining to the disappearance of Jacob Fletcher. You," he turned to the hacker, "You said he died? That's not the version of events I was given. I was told that Jacob went missing. We'd had an argument, it was nearly twelve years ago, and he left. I never saw him again." News articles and a SHIELD file appeared on screens. Tony went over to the SHIELD file. "See, look at this. It says he's 'missing in action'. Woah, Jacob worked for SHIELD? Did not know that."

"Grandpa said he'd worked for them... He never said Dad did, though. But this is wrong... He died... I know he died, I was there, I saw... I..." Her breath caught in her throat, her right arm and leg began shaking. The metal contraption on the left hand side of her body kept that stable, and she staggered over to a chair, sinking down onto the arm. She put her head in her hands, images flashing across her mind, confused memories. "No... Mum, Dad... N-no, I... It hurts... Please..." Tony looked at her, unsure of what he should do. Then the voice from her tablet started up again.

"Penny, shh... It's okay, Penny. You're safe... Remember your Grandpa's stories... Shall I call your Grandpa?" Penny didn't respond. She just sat there, rocking backwards and forwards, still muttering to herself.

"Daddy, no... I... Mama? Mama... Нет, стоп..." Tony jolted, surprised at the language change. He looked at a screen, and without needing to be asked, JARVIS displayed a translation of the words. _No, stop._ She was speaking Russian. Tony frowned, then decided on a course of action. He addressed the AI on the tablet.

"J-CUB, have you contacted her Grandpa yet? Do it, tell him where she is and tell him to come over here. I'll let him in. JARVIS, can you play a Russian lullaby?" Music started playing from speakers in the walls. A woman singing in Russian. "Penny? Penny, it's okay, you're safe here." Tony racked his brain, trying to remember the stories Jacob had told him. "No one's gonna hurt you here... I'm here to protect you, and if I were to fail, Captain America is downstairs... He'll protect you like... like the Sergeant protected him... What was his name?" He snapped his fingers as he tried to remember, irritated at his own forgetfulness... Why had he never listened to Jacob more... Time for a new tactic. "Captain America saved your Grandpa's life, didn't he? All those years ago... He rescued him from that base..." Penny sniffed.

"The Hydra base..." She murmured, wiping her eyes. Tony smiled, glad he was helping her. "Sergeant Barnes..." Tony nodded, he remembered now.

"Yeah, Sergeant Barnes... Think about him and the Captain... Remember all the stories your Grandpa told you about them..." Penny sniffed again, wiping her eyes more. She took a few deep breaths, letting them out shakily. She began to relax again, the shaking dying down once more. Then she froze, and turned slowly to look at Tony.

"You told J-CUB to call Grandpa..." Tony nodded, not understanding the problem. He glanced at the screens, signalling to JARVIS, who faded out the Russian lullaby. "Oh God... He's gonna be so mad at me... I'm in so much trouble right now... Unless... J-CUB did you do what he said? Please tell me you didn't..."

"I'm afraid I did. Your Grandpa will arrive shortly. He sounded more worried than angry."

"Yeah, but when he gets here and sees that I'm okay now, he'll be furious... Tony we need to figure out what happened before he gets here... He's spent years trying to put me off investigating this, but I need to know..." She pleaded with him, a desperate, hurt and scared look in her eyes that reminded Tony of how Jacob had looked when they'd argued.

"You look just like your Dad... Okay, JARVIS, what can you find about Penny Fletcher?"

"Daughter of Jacob Fletcher and Summer Smith. Lived with her mother in Yorkshire, England up until Summer died in a car accident, about four weeks after the disappearance of Jacob Fletcher. Penny's grandfather then moved to England and raised her in London." Penny frowned, examining the news article JARVIS was displaying.

"That's not my Mum. She wasn't called Summer, and we lived in Oxford, not Yorkshire. And I was there when she died... This says I was at school... I never went to school before Grandpa took me in. I was home-schooled." She frowned, then examined the SHIELD file about Jacob.

"Russia... Dad went on a mission in Russia, that's where he disappeared... I was speaking Russian... I remember Mum talking to me in Russian... She never called me Penny... I was Natalia... Natalia Penelope Fletcher-Tchiovska..." Penny winced, these memories hurt... But for once she was able to push through the pain and see the truth... or part of it at least.

"JARVIS, any results for that name?"

"Not exactly that name, but there is a record of a Natalia Tchiovska. Daughter of Svetlana Tchiovska. Father unknown. They lived in Oxford for a few years while on the run. Svetlana and Natalia died in a house fire around the same time that Jacob disappeared." A file had appeared onscreen. SHIELD again. Penny read it, and Tony looked at her, watching her reaction. There were tears in her eyes. There was a picture of Svetlana attached to the file.

"That's her. That's my Mum. I remember the fire now... It says she started it. That was why Dad was yelling at her... They were always arguing, but... She was paranoid, she thought someone was after us... Dad tried to talk to her, tried to make her see sense... She decided the best option for us was to burn the house down... to kill us both so no one could get us... Dad tried to save me... He picked me up from my bed and carried me downstairs, we were nearly out... but then... Someone grabbed my top, grabbed it at the neck and pulled me away from Dad. He tried to keep hold of me... They kicked him, kicked him in the chest... He fell back and I was dragged out. I screamed, I wanted him back... Then I was dumped in the snow, and the man who pulled me out... disappeared... I passed out, and then... I woke up in hospital... Except I didn't fully wake up... Grandpa was there, but... I didn't know him yet... They told me who he was, he kept calling me Penny... Dad had called me Penny... There was a man, a tall man, with no hair, and an eye-patch... He was there, talking to Grandpa... Then I woke up properly, and the man was gone. None of the doctors were the same, Grandpa was the only face I knew... He took me home, to his flat in London... I didn't remember what had happened, I was so confused about everything that had happened before..." Penny looked up at Tony, but they were both distracted by the lift doors opening behind them. They turned to see an old man with a walking stick, who walked in looking worried. He looked at Penny and relaxed slightly, happy to see that she was alright, then looked at the screen behind her and stiffened.

"Hey, Grandpa..." Penny spoke quietly. Her right hand was beginning to shake slightly.

"Penny... You're alright, that's good to know..." He paused, then looked at Tony. "Tony Stark. It's been a while." He stepped forward. "I should slap you for what you did to Jacob... And now you've been helping Penny find out about her family..." He glanced back at the screen. "You found Svetlana... How much do you remember, Penny?"

"I remember Mum starting the fire, Dad trying to get me out, someone pulling me away from him and pushing him back into the fire..." The old man looked surprised at this, clearly it was new information. Penny continued, "I remember being in hospital and being told you were my Grandpa... You started calling me Penny like Dad had, and I remember seeing you speak with a man, a guy with an eye-patch..."

"Nick Fury... He found you in the snow outside the house. Your Dad called him in to try and protect you. He knew your Mom was in a bad place, psychologically, and was worried about how she'd try to protect you... And he was scared she might be right that there was someone looking for you..." He trailed off, staring into the distance, then turned and looked at Penny again. "You seem to be doing well... J-CUB said you were having a pretty severe meltdown..."

"It was... I started speaking Russian. Tony calmed me down. He had J-CUB call you, got his AI to play a Russian lullaby for me, and he tried to remind me of your stories... How did you even know them?"

"Jacob was obsessed with Captain America... he was always telling me the stories when I got upset about something..."

"Is Captain America really downstairs? You told me he was downstairs..."

"Uhh, JARVIS? Where is Cap?"

"Captain Rogers is currently -"

"Right here." Everyone turned to see the Captain standing in the doorway, drying his hair with a towel. He looked liked he'd just showered. "Who're your friends, Stark?"


End file.
